Telematic communication units (TCU's) such as cellular phones, personal data assistants (PDA's), Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, and on-board Vehicle Communication Units (VCU's), used in conjunction with a Wide Area Network (WAN), such as a cellular telephone network or a satellite communication system, have made it possible for a person to send and receive voice communications, data transmissions, and facsimile (FAX) messages from virtually anywhere on earth. Such communication can be initiated at the TCU when it is turned on, or by entering a phone number to be called, or in many cases, by speaking a voice command to a voice recognition system (VR), causing the TCU to automatically complete the process of dialing the number to be called.
Current voice dependent VR systems use the recorded words of a user (speaker) to modify the recognition capability. A voice dependent system requires the system be trained in the speaker's own voice. This may typically take 15 minutes and require the user to navigate through a menu of choices. However, a voice dependent VR system that has been trained under one noise condition can have more difficulty recognizing the same speaker in a different noise condition.
Additionally, a problem has been identified through a marketing study conducted by Forrester entitled “Voice Portals Speak to Few”. The study indicates customer dissatisfaction with VR systems is highest (24%) for the “accuracy of voice recognition” category. Lack of correct character recognition is a major source of customer dissatisfaction of many voice recognition systems. An Owners Customer Satisfaction survey also shows that “voice recognition” is the number one customer complaint with the current technology (answered affirmatively from 37% of respondents). This lack of accuracy, whether real or perceived, has resulted in increased warranty claims for VR system repair.
Construction of a single speech recognition engine that can take care of all dialects and accents is quite difficult. Yet, companies want to provide their customers with flawless service and products. Many companies want to provide an interface that provides flawless and customized customer interfaces with visual, audible, tactical and speech capabilities matched to each customer.
Thus, there is a significant need for a method and system for improving voice recognition that overcomes the above disadvantages and shortcomings, as well as other disadvantages.